Gear Overview Gear is used in Rockstars Live during Shows, Practices and Battles. In Rockstars Live, gear is grouped into three categories: Guitars Amps Percussion & Other (simply called Percussion in this guide) These categories are important because each band member can ONLY use up to 1 of each category of gear. Example: I have 19 band members and 27 Guitars, 9 Amps and 79 Percussion. When fighting, my band will only use 19 Guitars, 9 Amps and 19 Percussion. The extra gear are NOT used. Gear has the following components: Tone (used interchangeably in this guide with Attack): Used to calculate your Attack points when Attacking Clarity (used interchangeably in this guide with Defense): Used to calculate your Defense points when Defending Cost: Purchase Price (can be sold for 50% of cost) Upkeep: ** IMPORTANT ** The amount that it costs to maintain that gear per income cycle. Rockstars Live Gear Strategy In Rockstars Live, Gear is relatively affordable relative to income provided by promotions. A good reference point is the highest upkeep item in the game (Yamaha Nocturne Grand Keyboard) has an upkeep cost of $700. Compare this to the best available promotion in the game (Record Company) with an income of $12,500. This can be interpreted as each record company can support 17+ keyboards. Compared to other Storm 8 games, this makes upkeep more manageable. However, it is still important to have a good strategy in place to generate enough income to support the higher upkeep costs as you advance in level and add band members. Upkeep versus Income The primary purpose of building a large income stream is to enable the purchase and upkeep of gear and - depending on your strategy - travel vehicles. However, most higher level gear and all travel vehicles have an upkeep cost that directly reduces your income stream. This lost income can never be recovered and it occurs every income cycle which means that a total upkeep cost of 20,000 per income cycle would result in losing at least 480,000 per day in lost income. Upkeep costs are commonly calculated as a % of your income stream. I personally like to keep my upkeep at 20% or less of my income - but this can vary depending on your playing style. Slow Down - Build Income If you find that upkeep costs are having a significant impact on your income, then it may be time to slow down your character leveling and allow your income to build. This problem will only get worse as you advance in level and the costs grow exponentially (and your opponents are much stronger). This problem is compounded when you realize that each level that your character advances would require you to purchase up to 15 additional gear items (5 of each) assuming you want to maximize your fighting potential.  Purchase Strategically When deciding what gear to buy, you need to carefully consider the gear's Upkeep, Attack and Defense and whether it is even necessary to upgrade your gear. Assuming you can afford to buy the gear, cost should not be a factor in your decision making as it is only a one time expenditure. Keeping in mind the reduction in income from upkeep, it does not always make sense to buy the best available gear.  If you are winning most of your fights with your current gear, then it may make more strategic sense to not increase your upkeep and allow your income to build at a faster rate. Maximize Your Fighting Potential Because the game allows each band member (up to 5 per level) to use 1 of each gear type when fighting, you should always make sure that everyone has at least 1 piece of gear from each category that can be utilized in a fight. It does not have to be the best available gear, but they should at least have something to fight with. Attack and Defense Each gear item has an attack and defense score that is used to calculate the results of a fight. Only the attack score is used when you initiate an attack while only the defense score is used when you are attacked. If you are losing fights that you initiate, it may make sense to purchase gear that increase your attack score in order to increase your chance of success. Conversely, if you are losing when you get attacked, you may want to increase the defensive point value of your gear. Doubling up on Gear If you look closely at the attack and defense values for the different gear, you will find that some of them are more attack orientated or defense orientated. This means that you may find it makes sense to "double up" on certain gear in order to maximize both your attack and defense potential. This makes strategic sense because the game automatically chooses the best available attack gear when you are attacking and the best available defense gear when you are defending. Example: I have 12 band members and 14 Epiphone Electric Guitars (Atk 3, Def 1) and 10 Segull Spruce Dreadnought Guitars (Atk 1, Def 2). When I attack, I will automatically use 12 Epiphone Electric Guitars. When I defend, I will automatically use 10 Segull Spruce Dreadnought Guitars and 2 Epiphone Electric Guitars. Gear Table The following is a complete list of all gear available in Rockstars Live including those that can be randomly received as prizes for completing specific shows. Please note that promotional gear is not included because they can not be acquired within the game. Category Gear Level Cost Upkeep Attack Defense Guitars Ibanez Jumpstart Guitar 1 100   1 0 Guitars Rogue Bass Guitar 1 220   1 1 Guitars Segull Spruce Dreadnought 2 350   1 2 Guitars Epiphone Electric Guitar 3 500   3 1 Guitars Paul Reed Smith Electric Guitar 5 750   1 4 Guitars 2006 Taylor Maple Acoustic 8 1,200   3 3 Guitars 2003 Martin Special Acoustic Guitar 12 2,500 10 3 7 Guitars 1978 Fender Precision Bass Antique 14 7,500 25 9 6 Guitars 2005 Fender Stratocaster '57 Relic 17 12,000 50 8 14 Guitars 2001 Gibson Les Paul '59 Reissue 20 20,000 70 16 12 Guitars 1959 Gibson Les Paul Lightburst 25 36,000 110 15 20 Guitars 1963 White Fender Stratocaster 30 65,000 200 23 19 Guitars Promo Guitar 5 Prize   3 2 Amps Crate Amp 1 250   1 1 Amps Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier 2 550   1 2 Amps Matchless DC-30 Reverb 4 1,400 10 4 3 Amps Diezel VH4 9 3,500 40 6 6 Amps 1987 Marshall JCM 800 16 9,000 100 9 11 Amps Randall Kirk Hammett Signature Series 23 25,000 250 16 13 Amps 1967 Vox AC30 28 50,000 500 19 19 Percussion Microphone 1 100   1 0 Percussion Starter Drumset 1 125   0 1 Percussion Yamaha Piano Board 2 300   0 2 Percussion Electronic Drumset 4 700   1 3 Percussion Tama Superstar Hyperdrive Kit 7 1,500 10 2 5 Percussion Roland V Synth Audio Synthesizer Keyboard 9 2,500 30 3 7 Percussion Paiste Drum Kit 13 8,000 90 6 12 Percussion Moog Voyager 18 18,000 200 10 16 Percussion Signature Shell Pack Drumset 24 30,000 400 12 22 Percussion Yamaha Nocturne Grand Keyboard 29 60,000 700 16 25 Percussion Karaoke Machine 1 Prize   2 2
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